Chapter 1

"Prince Consort, save me!"

The plaintive voice echoed in his ears, and he followed the sound with his eyes.

It was a magnificent palace, now engulfed in flames. A group of palace maidens in brocade robes were fleeing in all directions, and behind them was a group of ferocious soldiers, armed with swords and spears, clad in armor.

She, dressed in splendid palace attire, stumbled out of the grand hall.

Her hair was disheveled, but her face was unusually blurry. Even though he strained to see, he could not make out her features.

But he knew she was speaking to him.

"Prince Consort, save me!"

The woman screamed, her plaintive voice cutting through the cacophony of battle cries and reaching his ears clearly.

Instinctively, he reached out his hand and walked quickly toward the woman.

She seemed to see him as well and stumbled toward him...

Strangely, the distance between them grew shorter, but her face remained blurry, only faintly revealing her outline.

He opened his mouth to speak to her but no sound came out.

As she was about to reach him, a look of fear appeared in his eyes.

From the sea of flames behind her, a white horse galloped out. On the horse sat a young man, holding a gleaming sword, who reached her in the blink of an eye.

"Gu'er, be careful!"

He finally shouted, but she seemed not to hear, still running toward him desperately.

A cold flash of light appeared in the air as the young man on the white horse raised his sword and viciously swung it down at her...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Gu'er, be careful!"

Yang Shouwen suddenly opened his eyes and sat up from the grass.

Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he sat on the ground, breathing heavily, his heart pounding.

The setting sun dyed the Tiger Valley Mountain red.

At the foot of the hill, a stream flowed gently.

The water was clear, and fish could be seen swimming leisurely in the stream.

Two yellow oxen were strolling leisurely on the grass by the stream. In the distance, the undulating mountains were bathed in the glow of the setting sun, looking particularly enchanting.

The wind from the Yan Mountains brought a chill.

Blowing on Yang Shouwen, it made him shiver. He then realized that his back was drenched in cold sweat.

Phew!

Yang Shouwen exhaled a long, heavy breath and lay back on the grass with a thud, his mind in a daze.

This damned dream had been recurring for over ten days.

Each time, it was the same dream, the same person, the same outcome... but who was 'Gu'er'?

Thinking about this, Yang Shouwen couldn't help but feel a headache.

For seventeen years, he had been in a daze, and when he finally awoke, he discovered that he did not belong to this era.

He came from 1,500 years in the future and was reborn in this time. However, due to various reasons, his soul was blocked, and he had lived in a daze for seventeen years. If not for the sudden thunderstorm, he might have continued to live in a daze, being seen as a 'fool' by ordinary people.

But who was Gu'er?

Yang Shouwen swore that, with his two lifetimes of experience, he did not know anyone named 'Gu'er'.

Yet why did this damned nightmare follow him after he awoke, causing him inexplicable heartache?

He couldn't understand it, really couldn't understand it!

"Akshunnu, the cowherd. Sixteen years old, dull and foolish.

Chasing yellow oxen up the mountain, one less when he returns home. His father asks him, but he doesn't know how many oxen there are..."

A song interrupted Yang Shouwen's thoughts.

He sat up and saw that a group of children had run to the stream, playing and singing a nursery rhyme.

Yang Shouwen's face darkened.

The 'Akshunnu' in the song referred to him.

When he was a child, he was considered foolish, and his grandfather took him to the Peace Temple in Changping to pray for the Buddha's protection, giving him the nickname 'Akshunnu'. The incident in the song happened last year. At the time, Yang Shouwen was so foolish that he didn't even notice when one of the oxen went missing. When he returned home, his father asked about it, and he couldn't give a clear answer.

This wasn't a big deal, but someone had turned it into a nursery rhyme that spread throughout Changping County.

If Yang Shouwen's father were an ordinary person, it wouldn't matter.

However, his father, Yang Chenglie, was the County Magistrate of Changping. Although he held a low-ranking position, he was still an official. Changping was a small county with fewer than 3,000 households, but it had a population of over 10,000. In the entire county, only the County Magistrate, the Deputy Magistrate, and the Chief Clerk held higher positions than Yang Chenglie. This incident made Yang Chenglie lose face.

Yang Chenglie was from the Hongnong Yang clan.

In Yang Shouwen's memory, Yang Chenglie was originally a military officer, but for some reason, the family moved to Changping.

Yang Shouwen's birth mother was from a prominent family.

However, she passed away shortly after giving birth, leaving Yang Shouwen without a mother from a young age.

Later, Yang Chenglie remarried in Changping, marrying a woman surnamed Song, and they had a son and a daughter.

Yang Shouwen's grandfather was a Taoist priest who disliked living in the county, so he settled at the foot of Tiger Valley Mountain.

Because Yang Shouwen's mind was not good and his mother had passed away shortly after his birth, Yang Chenglie believed he was a curse and did not like him much. Therefore, Yang Shouwen grew up with his grandfather.

Two years ago, when Yang Shouwen was fifteen, his grandfather passed away.

After that, Yang Shouwen lived alone in the farm at the foot of Tiger Valley Mountain. Although he did not receive much attention from Yang Chenglie, he lived a carefree life. After all, the farm was Yang Chenglie's official land. With the 200 acres of land at the foot of Tiger Valley Mountain, Yang Shouwen had enough to live comfortably... as for tending the oxen, it was a habit he had developed from a young age.

The loss of one ox was not a big deal for Yang Chenglie.

However, the fact that everyone in Changping knew he had a foolish son was a different matter. Before, people tacitly ignored Yang Shouwen's existence. But with the spread of the nursery rhyme, the lid was off, and Yang Chenglie was often teased at gatherings. Although some people had no ill intent, it was enough to create a knot in Yang Chenglie's heart. As a result, Yang Chenglie became even colder toward Yang Shouwen.

The dazed Yang Shouwen did not feel the full force of the malice around him.

But the awakened Yang Shouwen could keenly sense the malice hidden behind the nursery rhyme.

His slightly delicate eyebrows furrowed, and he glanced at the children by the stream, feeling helpless.

Could he really take these young, innocent children seriously? They might not understand the malice behind the nursery rhyme and were just finding it amusing, so they kept singing it. Could he really grab them and beat them up?

Sighing helplessly, Yang Shouwen picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it at the children.

The children laughed and scattered, but soon gathered by the stream again, singing and playing with the oxen.

At this moment, the sound of hooves came from the end of the mountain path.

Yang Shouwen turned his head and saw several horses galloping toward him from the western mountain path.

The riders were dressed in black, wearing black hats with black veils that obscured their faces, making it impossible to see them clearly. Tiger Valley Mountain was part of the Yan Mountains and the Jundu Mountains. People traveled between Juyong Pass and Guguzhu frequently, and it was almost mid-autumn in August.

This was the busiest time of the year in Changping.

In recent years, due to the turmoil caused by the Khitans, Changping had become much quieter. But this year, the country was at peace, and there were no major wars, so Changping was bustling again. Especially with the addition of a new administrative region in the northwest of Changping last year, the influx of people from the northeast meant that Changping would be even busier this year.

So, Yang Shouwen only glanced at the riders once and then paid no more attention.

He brushed the dust off his clothes and slowly walked down the hill.

At this moment, a scream suddenly came from the stream, followed by a series of cries...